Cocoa Coffin

Kane Kwei was born in Ghana almost a century ago. He was a carpenter who built custom coffins as well as furniture. He has made coffins in the shape of a Mercedes, Nokia cell phone, airplane, and my favorite, a spring onion. The cocoa pod coffin above is on display at the DeYoung museum in Golden gate park in San Francisco. I would want a phonograph record player coffin, or maybe a jalapeno coffin... oh I know, a phonograph record player with a ristra wrapped around it!Tune: Coffin For Head of State by Fela KutiFela is not the only one who says Wakawakawaka.Tune: Cocoa Leaf from La Clave's self titled LP~a wild percussion suite lead by Panamanian born Benny Velarde with exciting piano work by Al Zulaica.Maestro Velarde ebreaks down the uniqueness of the West Coast Latin scene {via Office Naps}:

“On the East Coast they were playing music that was called “Afro Cuban Jazz”. It was heavily influenced by Chano Pozo who played with Dizzy Gillespie and Mario Bauza. On the West Coast we were playing what was called “Latin Jazz” - which meant jazz standards with Latin percussion …Another difference was that on the East Coast the music was played by Big Bands like those lead by Dizzy Gillespie and Machito. But on the West Coast we did not have Big Bands but the music was played by smaller combos.”

Tune: Move Your Hands also from La Clave'sLa Clave LPThis is one of many great covers of the Lonnie Smith classic. This version really stands out as a unique take. Lalo Shcifrin steps in on the keys @ 1:01 and Willie Colon keeps the bass sturdy throughout!? ....not THE Willie Colon of La Murga trombone fame, but a great bass player.

This is one of many variations and reincarnations of the Pokemon's Purse, an old plated dessert standard at Citizen Cake. It was there before me and I am sure it lived on after me in its OG form, but I loved giving this kawaii treat different twists throughout the seasons.

Bring the milk cream and cherry pits to a light simmer. remove from heat and llow to steep for 2 hours. return to heat and return to a simmer. Strain and temper in the yolks, sugar and salt. Chill overnight and spin in an ice cream freezer.

It is very common to make ice cream base from 1/2 cream and 1/2 milk. French ice cream base is made like creme anglaise with more cream. Italian Gelato is made with just milk. I like this ratio of 3 parts milk to one part cream. Unlike the other recipe components in this dessert that come directly from cherry stained notebook, the recipe above is an adaptation of standard recipes off the top of my head. When I searched "Cherry Pit Ice Cream" to present some background on Noyaux ice cream, I was directed to the Eggbeater blog and found an almost identicle recipe! Same thought process went into the creation and yeild modification of this recipe by homegirl Shuna and I.

Melt the butter and chocolate together. Whip the yolks with half of the sugar until light and fluffy. Whip the whites to soft peak and slowly add the rest of the sugar. Whip to medium peaks. Fold yolks into chocolate. Fold in the whites. Sift the flour and fold in along with the salt.

whisk together the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Whisk together the liquid ingredients. Whisk the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and pour onto a buttered half sheet pan. Bake at 325 degrees for ten minutes. When cooled down to room temperature, cut into 6 squares and remove from pan.

Place a small 2 ounce scoop of cake batter in the center of the mochi square. Fold in the corners. Flip over onto a parchment lined sheet pan so that the seam is down. Bake for ten minutes at 325 degrees.

Sauteed Cherries

Pit and half cherries. Melt a little butter in a sauté pan over medium high heat. Add the cherries along with half of a vanilla bean and a spoonful of sugar. Saute for a minute then add some red wine away from heat. Return to stove and reduce over medium heat until the cherries are a little soft and the sauce has thickened.

Serve with ground and whole almonds that have been fried in olive oil and salted. Finish with chocolate cigarettes or chocolate dipped poke sticks.